Saturday 3 October 2020 is Bookshop Day across the nation, a time when many show their love for their local bookshop. To celebrate, we have teamed up with some amazing independent bookshops which we want to highlight. One of our bookshop partners is Pen’rallt Gallery Bookshop, or galeri a siop lyfrau pen’rallt in its native […]
Since it opened its doors in June 2006, Mr B’s Emporium of Reading Delights in Bath has become famous amongst lovers of indie bookstores for its decor and its innovative book recommendation products and reading gifts. We’d learned of their Reading Spas and Reading Subscriptions whilst researching our bibliotherapy article of last month and were […]
Chivalry Each week, we pick a short fiction piece from our Fairlight Shorts archives to feature as our story of the week. This week, we’ve chosen a story about young love by Matthew Twigg. Matthew Twigg lives with his wife and two children near Oxford, where he works as an editor for an academic publisher. […]
Sarah Jane Butler is the author of Starling, a beautifully written novel about our connection to the world – and people – around us, publishing
Ami Rao's debut novel, David and Ameena, is published by Fairlight Books on 4 February 2021. This modern romance picks apart the lives of two people,
Pete Sherlock is a Birmingham based investigative journalist at the BBC. His debut novel, The Mask of Merryvale Manor published 20th June 2024 and fol
As Valentine's Day approaches we might feel the pressure to have the perfect romance but in reality relationships can be a little messy. Here are some
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Chivalry Each week, we pick a short fiction piece from our Fairlight Shorts archives to feature as our story of the week. This week, we’ve chosen a story about young love by Matthew Twigg. Matthew Twigg lives with his wife and two children near Oxford, where he works as an editor for an academic publisher. […]
A story about motherhood and loss by Emma Penruddock following a Mother reflecting on her life.
It’s Thursday and I’m in the baby changing facility at Waitrose eating a no-butter flapjack. The air smells like baby wipes and there is a small, bright spotlight that draws out my shadow as I move beneath it. It’s not a bad place to eat in secret while I mentally guess replacement ingredients for butter. […]
Her name was Mrs Martinez, Mrs J. Martinez, and when she said the ‘J’ part, her eyes squinted, just to let you know that when you addressed her, you’d better say it, too. She was my third-grade art teacher. She was chic. With almost every other sentence, she mentioned she was from France, even though […]
I wasn’t good at constructions. Orestes used to be amazing. The trap was a sieve borrowed from his grandmother without her knowing about it. A small stake, made of wood he had cut from the floor of the abandoned house right next to his family’s. Two ropes from his mother’s laundry. If I remember correctly, […]
He sounded different in the confines of the car. The rain on the windshield threatened to drown out his voice, a sound like the tapping of a thousand fingers. ‘So.’ Ellen shoved her schoolbag down between her legs. It didn’t have any of her school things in it. Instead it had changes of clothes and […]
Emma Penruddock is a short story author, whose stories have been shortlisted and longlisted for a number of short story competitions. She lives with her quite grown-up children in a deserted cottage just outside the garrison town of Youghal, County Cork. A short Q&A with Emma Penruddock can be read below: Q: If you could […]
Jasper Cairns is an amateur short-story author based in the East Midlands who very much enjoys bananas. Though he also has been known to eat oranges and apples, bananas would definitely be his favourite. He also makes short films. Q: If you could travel back in time, which of the great writers would you […]
Linda Scotto is from New York, New York. Some of the places her work has previously appeared in are Oyez Review, Redivider and Bayou Magazine. She is currently at work on her first fiction novel. Q: If you could travel back in time, which of the great writers would you like to meet and […]
Athena Gaga, MSc (Dist), MA, BEng, is the author of Mehen, the Oracle and the Time Movers (2019) and Iliad Shattered (2022). She lives in Greece with her son, a young adult with special needs, and her parents. A short Q&A with Athena Gaga can be read below: Q: Is there a book that you […]
Fiona J. Mackintosh was born in New Jersey to expat Brits who brought her back to the old country and raised her in a Scottish fishing village. Aged 30, after a short career in journalism in London, she went back to the US with just two suitcases and no prospects, and has lived there ever […]